East Harlem Gas Explosion Kills Worker

By DENNIS HEVESI

Published: June 12, 1992

An East Harlem building, renovated and awaiting the arrival of poor and homeless tenants, was torn by a gas explosion yesterday afternoon that left one worker dead, four others seriously injured and neighbors badly shaken.

Four firefighters were slightly injured, and subway and Metro-North trains on the East Side were halted for an hour until officials could be sure the building would not collapse further.

The blast, shortly after 1 P.M. in one of four connected buildings on East 100th Street, left the cinder-block first floor of the building collapsed into the basement. The building had two four-foot holes in the rear wall, and its bricks were bulging out eight inches from the first to the fourth floors.

"It sounded like a bomb," said Harley Johnson, who had been walking his dog in a courtyard behind the five-story building at 115 East 100th Street, between Park and Lexington Avenues. "It felt like an earthquake. It threw me to the ground."

Mr. Johnson's neighbor, Lennard McNeil, was lying on his bed in a nearby building when the explosion rattled his apartment. "I ran to the window," Mr. McNeil said. "I looked where the explosion was and I saw gas pouring out. It looked like a vapor spirit leaving the building." 'Not Going to Hold Us Back'

The four-building complex, abandoned and decaying for years, had only recently been renovated by three churches to provide housing for 51 poor families. "They were to be moving in this week," said the Rev. Robert Lott, pastor of St. Francis De Sales Church on East 96th Street.

"We're trying to turn around East Harlem and this is a setback," Father Lott said. "But it's not going to hold us back." Father Lott said he hoped the damage could be repaired within a few weeks. The renovation cost $4.3 million and was paid for by the New York State Turnkey program, which provides funding for low-income housing, Father Lott said.

For an hour yesterday afternoon, trains in and out of Grand Central Terminal and along the Lexington Avenue subway line were halted for fear that vibrations would further collapse the building as firefighters searched through the rubble. But at 4 P.M., a Buildings Department spokesman, Vahe Tiryakian, said inspectors had determined that the building was stable.

Fifty-five firefighters and 11 pieces of equipment responded to the alarm, said Tom Kelly, a spokesman for the Fire Department. "When we arrived there was fire in the basement and sections of the rear wall had collapsed," Mr. Kelly said. "Apparently people were working on installing the boiler and hooking up the gas system when there was an explosion." Four firefighters received minor injuries in fighting the fire. Dead Under Cinder Blocks

A 38-year-old worker, whose identity was withheld last night, was pulled from under the cinder blocks and pronounced dead at the scene. Four other workers, all in serious condition, were taken to the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center burn unit. They were identifed only as Valente Schuster, Augustine Leonardo, William Leonardo and Alexander Sadransky.

Louis Rivas, a mechanic who minutes earlier had inspected the building's elevator, barely escaped the blast. "Just before 1 o'clock I went to the cellar," Mr. Rivas said. "I told them I smelled gas. They said it was normal. I took it for granted they knew what they were doing."

Mr. Rivas said he walked from the building to call his office. "I was up the block when I heard the explosion," he said. "Two more minutes and I would have been in there with them."

A spokeswoman for Consolidated Edison Company, Pat Richardi, said the utility had finished installing a three-inch gas line to a new boiler in the building during the morning. "Our guys pressure-tested the newly installed line and it passed," she said. Ms. Richardi said there were licensed plumbers at the building, but she could not say whether they were hooking the line to the boiler when the blast ripped through the building. Thought House Was Caving In

Virginia Robertson, who lives in an adjacent building, said she "was lying back on my bed when I heard this WHOOM!"

"It knocked a screen out of my window and a picture of flowers off the wall," Ms. Robertson said. "I thought my house was caving in. I found my shoes and got out of there."

When the crew from Engine Company 53 arrived, said Firefighter Fred Zvinys, four of the construction workers were outside the building. "They were in a daze, walking around," the firefighter said. "One guy's shirt was blown off. Another guy's pants were blown off."

Firefighter John Newman of Ladder Company 43 said one worker managed to say that someone else might be inside. Firefighter Newman and members of his company entered the basement.

"It was covered with three feet of cinder blocks," he said. "We split up, took different sections. It was so smoky you couldn't see anything. There was water up to my knee.

"I started picking up the blocks and eventually saw a guy's head. His face and neck were covered in blood. I called everybody over and we gave him C.P.R., but he didn't respond."

Photo: A recently renovated building in East Harlem collapsed after a gas explosion and left one worker dead and four others seriously wounded. Emergency workers tried to resuscitate an injured worker. (Mitch Jacobson for The New York Times) Map shows the site of the explosion.